Warning: This article contains spoilers that some readers may prefer to avoid.

Opening with a vivid and impressively-staged battle scene set in the New York of 1781 and subsequently taking in time-travel, the supernatural, a bad-ass chain-wielding priest and a headless horseman wielding a machine gun, it's pretty clear from this pilot episode that a lack of ambition is certainly not Sleepy Hollow's problem.

This new take on Washington Irving's work - from Underworld's Len Wiseman and Star Trek team Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman - follows Sleepy Hollow hero Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) as he is transported through time to the present, pursued by his nemesis, the aforementioned Horseman...

The 21st century setting is a canny move, allowing this pilot to mostly escape comparisons with the most widely-recognised version of Sleepy Hollow - Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's 1999 film effort.

The time-travel element also allows for both decent character moments - Ichabod's shocked not only at the existence of a female lieutenant, but also at the existence of an emancipated black woman - and some decent humour. Crane's shock at the proliferation of Starbucks ("Is there a law?") is a stand-out moment.

Speaking of Crane, the 'noble-but-somewhat-stuffy English hero teamed with a sassy US partner' dynamic worked recently for CBS on Elementary and it works again here for Fox - as Ichabod and his new cop partner Abbie Mills, Mison and co-star Nicole Beharie both impress, with their characters sharing a fun repartee.

It's a shame that Sleepy Hollow's supporting players are substantially less interesting, but the show is at least populated by strong character actors - John Cho, Clancy Brown, Nestor Serrano - who bring a little extra something to flatly-written roles.

Not all of this pilot's flaws can be as easily glossed over though - as with many pilot episodes, there's pacing issues, with Abbie - and for that matter the entire Sleepy Hollow PD - becoming comfortable with the eccentric Ichabod far, far too quickly.

The dialogue is also on occasion a little heavy-handed ("Don't you find it odd, all the unsolved cases around here?") and for a horror drama, Sleepy Hollow sorely lacking in real scares - the creepy final scene, with its decent mirror-based jump-scare, aside.

So it's not all that horrifying, but Sleepy Hollow remains a hugely enjoyable romp, with the revelation that the Headless Horseman is but one of four horseman of the apocalypse neatly setting up a grander story arc for the unfolding drama.

Sleepy Hollow may be a little too oddball to become a mainstream hit on the level of those series, but it's certainly a solid enough product to engender a fervent fan following. We could have the next big cult hit on our hands here.

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Sleepy Hollow continues on Mondays at 9/8c on Fox. The series will premiere in the UK on the Universal Channel on Wednesday, October 9 at 9pm.